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Contact Us
The George Washington
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine
2300 Eye Street NW,
Ross Hall 736
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: (202) 994-3532
email: mitm@gwu.edu
Research
The Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Tropical Medicine (GW-MITM) has built a strong tradition of scientific inquiry through both basic and translational research, significantly advancing the available body of knowledge for some of the world's most devastating infectious and parasitic diseases. GW-MITM encourages investigators and students to take on creative, unexplored avenues of research and funding mechanisms that would increase its likelihood for producing groundbreaking discoveries.
In support of its mission and research vision, the department was recently awarded two major grants: a $15.6 million NIH infrastructure project to build and enhance the laboratories and expand the translational research activities. Furthermore, GW-MITM faculty provide leadership to advance HIV/AIDS research through the D.C. Developmental Center for AIDS Research.
Vaccine and Diagnostic R&D (Clinical Immunology)
As part of a product development/public-private partnership (PD/PPP), GW-MITM has retained the infrastructure and capacity for immunological characterization of recombinant proteins and vaccines. The evaluation process is customized to the specific vaccine candidate under a strict and documented environment with highly trained and experienced personnel.
Molecular- and Immuno-pathogenesis
Major NIH-sponsored projects are underway to uncover the fundamental immunology and host immune responses to a variety of illnesses with a primary focus on NTDs and NIoP. Department researchers are investigating the immunobiology associated with helminth infections and toxoplasmosis, believed to be one of the most common NTDs worldwide and a major opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS. In addition, some of the major Initiatives in these fields include:
- The identification of a unique cholesterol pathway in HIV-1 that has opened an entire new area of antiretroviral drug discovery
- Leadership in the transcriptomics and proteomics of HIV-1
- The development of an innovative bank of HIV-infected tissues
GW-MITM has created strong links to R&D institutions in Brazil (especially FIOCRUZ and Instituto Butantan) as well as elsewhere in the Americas. Furthermore, a strong collaboration with Khon Kaen University's (KKU) Department of Pathology in Khon Kaen, Thailand links our department with a world leader Institution in the study of Oriental liver fluke infections in Northeast Thailand (http://www.kku.ac.th/eng1/faculty/mept.html). The fundamental biomedical interest for this program relies on the fact that there is no stronger link among any of the human parasitic infections and cancer than between human Opistorchis viverrini infection and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA).
